viewing playlists by ID3 tags instead of file/folder names

[TheAntipop]

I have a 5.5G 80GB iPod Video.  Installed the latest iPod Video build of Rockbox, and I'm really enjoying the features and flexibility.  However, ideally I would like to maintain the ability to switch between Rockbox and the stock iPod firmware while being able to access all of my music and utilize all the features of both firmwares.

The problem is, all of the music on my iPod has been imported with iTunes.  The way iTunes creates the file/directory names for the MP3s is completely cryptic, using random letters and leaving no way of identifying the artist or song title just from the file or folder name.  This works for the stock iPod firmware, but it's causing a problem with Rockbox.  

Rockbox is using the file/folder names to display in playlists, but not the ID3 tags...  as you can imagine, having a playlist consisting of the songs "HSQR", "VBAA", "UYYQ", and "PKKL" is not too helpful.  The Database works fine for me, and displays the ID3 tags perfectly, but when I add songs to a playlist I get the cryptic filenames.

Is there a way to have the Rockbox display the playlist using the ID3 tags instead of the actual file names?  It seems like there should be a way to do this, but  haven't been able to find an option in the settings.  

It seems like if I want to keep Rockbox and use playlists I would have to re-copy all of my music using the original, non-cryptic file/folder names before they were imported with iTunes.  But this structure of course wouldn't work with iTunes or the iPod firmware.  So it seems like I will have to choose one firmware over the other, which I'd rather not have to do.

Any suggestions?

[pondlife]

Search the manual for "database" and read what you find...

Edit: Sorry TheAntipop, I promise to read the question next time...

pondlife

[pixelma]

Pondlife:

The Database works fine for me, and displays the ID3 tags perfectly, but when I add songs to a playlist I get the cryptic filenames.

I believe there is a patch in the patch tracker (see link in the left side menu) that makes the playlist viewer also use the information found in the tags.

Found it, it's FS#6084 but the last comment says that it's out of sync...

[TheAntipop]

Pondlife:

The Database works fine for me, and displays the ID3 tags perfectly, but when I add songs to a playlist I get the cryptic filenames.

I believe there is a patch in the patch tracker (see link in the left side menu) that makes the playlist viewer also use the information found in the tags.

Found it, it's FS#6084 but the last comment says that it's out of sync...

Thanks for the help.  This is exactly what I'm looking for, but but as you said it's 'out of sync.'  What exactly does that mean, that it's not compatible with the latest build of Rockbox?  I thought it couldn't hurt to try, so I downloaded that patch and attempted to patch Rockbox and re-compile it following the directions on the Wiki involving Cygwin.  The whole process was pretty involved, but I'm glad I learned how to do it for future reference.

Anyway, the patch didn't work... I got a few "Hunk X failed" errors, but compiled it anyway.  I copied the patched Rockbox to my iPod, but the playlist still showed the filenames (I guess this is a result of the patch being 'out of sync').

I'm actually kind of surprised this is not a standard feature in Rockbox.  I would imagine there are many other people out there who started with iTunes and the stock iPod firmware and installed Rockbox with the intention of dual booting.  All of their MP3s were imported with the iTunes file structure (random letters), which makes a playlist displaying the filenames useless.

Am I the only one with this issue, or are most people using Rockbox exclusively and copying their music with the  file/folder names intact?  I would do that in a heartbeat if the stock firmware would see the music, but unfortunately that's not the case.

[Llorean]

Well Rockbox is intended as a replacement firmware: The intent is for users, when its done, to have all their needs met so there's no need to listen to music in the original firmware.

With that in mind, this isn't necessarily a high priority feature since it shouldn't be needed in the first place. This of course also isn't reason alone to be assured the feature will never be included, but the author of the feature (or someone willing to do work on it) should go to IRC and find out what, if anything, is preventing this feature from inclusion and do the work to get it up to a valid state. The first step of course would be getting it in sync with SVN.

[Chronon]

There are programs that will build an iTunesDB from a file tree.  According to this discussion from the Rockbox mail archive foobar2000 can do this.  You can also find other tools that claim to do this.

You could then use a sensible file tree for the storage of your files.  This would allow you to gain useful information from playlist entries and put the file structure of your machine more in line with other DAPs that Rockbox runs on.  This doesn't negate discussion of whether or not ID3 info should be accessible in some mode of playlist viewing, but it at least gives you a way to make some sense of the upcoming files in your playlist on a (probably) shorter timescale than waiting for this patch to get re-synced.

[Llorean]

Unfortunately those tools don't work with recent iPods (or iPod firmware updates) if I understand correctly.

[Chronon]

Ah, that's unfortunate.

Well, I can´t guarantee anything but it´s worth a try. Despite that,
foobar2000 with this plugin is a very convenient replacement for iTunes
for the iPod´s that are not yet supported by Rockbox, like the nano 2nd gen.

That kind of made me assume that it was working for recent firmware versions.  But a little digging suggests to me that you are correct.  (Not that I have any reason to doubt you!)

[Llorean]

I actually *strongly* encourage people to double check what I say. Nobody can stay up to date on everything

[Chronon]

Well said, Llorean.   8-)

[Febs]

I believe that the foo_dop plug-in for Foobar2000 does work with recent iPods.  The earlier, now-defunct foo_pod plugin does not.

[GodEater]

I don't believe either work these days actually Febs - I tried them. Or at least, not in a hugely useful manner.

I'm given to understand the Apple firmware will refuse to load Music that's no under the iPod_Control hidden folder, even if the itunes database on the ipod points it somewhere else for the files.

[Chronon]

Well, if it worked at some time it seems like a decent strategy may still be to revert to a previous version of the firmware that allowed one of those foobar plugins to work.  I'm working on repairing my video iPod now so this info may come in handy soon.  

Previously I just used the database and lived with the messy file structure that iTunes gives you.  But if there's a way to build an iTunesDB from a filetree and have the native firmware play it then I'd rather do that.

I'll post back here if I can track down a solution that works.